Ok here goes. I have been reading alot of articals online about PH and water hardness. And I wanted to run this by you all to make sure it's right before I start messing with this.
First off I don't know what my GH or KH levels are yet, my API test kit doesn't include that, but I will be picking that up later on today. My PH is 7.6 and I want to rais it to ~ 8.0 it is my understanding that adjusting the GH with something like Epsom salt will not rais the PH; that if you want to rais PH you have to rais KH though the use of baking soda or other products like it made for aquarium use.
Is this even close to right or is there some part of the water chemisty bit that I have overlooked? Any feedback would be greatley appriciated by me and my fish.

The most important thing about PH is that's it's stable. I don't alter my water chemistry in any of my tanks, and my PH is the same as yours and I've breed everything from Discus, Africans and CA/SA cichlids. Keep it simple and keep it steady and your fish will be fine.

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that was my main reason for asking. i was hoping to breed yellow labs and i have heard that it is easy to get them to breed but that the conditions had to be right {ie ph ~8.0 or maybe a little higher}. and just so that i understand you clearly you were able to get malawi to breed in 7.6 ph so long as it was stable. i use crushed coral as substrate and lace rock for decor so i am not that worried that my ph will drop.

I have over 90 Malawi mbuna,peacocks and haps and as I'm typing there are 19 holding females with 3 20g long fry tanks with over 150 fry. The only buffering agent is Holey limestone. In my experience with breeding mbuna all you need is water, a male , and 4-5 females for fry.

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Thank you all for getting back to me on this issue. You have convinced me to not mess with the dh or kh. I only just found AA and I have been so impressed with all of the great information. Hopefully soon I can stop asking so many ?s and start sharing success stories